Photographic-printing machine.



PATENTED JUNE 6, 1905.

C. SPAULDING.

PHOTOGRAPHIC PRINTING MAGHINE.-

APPLICATION FILED NOV.14,1904.

6 SHEETS-SHEET 1.

0 r 1 n tuna ll WW4; o 4 L 2 w M 7 5 n a I 4 l Inventor.

No. 791,834. PATENTED JUNE 6, 1905. G. SPAULDING.

PHOTOGRAPHIG PRINTING MACHINE.

APPLICATION FILED NOV. 14,1904.

6 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

E j i 4 g i l 1/ l a :0 I H 'v @1 1 g i PATENTED JUNE 6, 1905.

C. SPAULDING. PHOTOGRAPHIC PRINTING MACHINE.

APPLICATION FILED NOV. 14,1904.

6 SHEETS-$11331 G.

PATENTED JUNE 6, 1905.

G. SPAULDING.

PHOTOGRAPHIG PRINTING MACHINE.

APPLICATION TILED NOV. 14,1904.

l I l 6 SHEETS-SHEET 4.

PATENTED JUNE 6, 1905.

C. SPAULDING.

PHOTOGRAPHIG PRINTING MACHINE.

APPLIGATION TILED NOV. 14,1904:-

6 SHEETS-SHEET 5.

PATENTED JUNE 6, 1905.

C. SPAULDING.

PHOTOGRAPHIC PRINTING MACHINE.

APPLICATION TILED NOV.14,1904.

6 BHEETFBHEET 6 Jzwen to r:

UNITED STATES Patented June 6, 1905.

PATENT OFFICE.

PHOTOGRAPHlC-PRINTING MACHINE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 791,834, dated June 6, 1905.

Application filed November 14, 1904. Serial No. 232,565.

To all whom, it 77mg concern:

Be it known that], OHARLEs SPAULDING, of Boston. in the county of Suffolk and State of Massachusetts, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Photographic-Printing Machines, of which the following is a speciiication.

This invention relates to machines of the character described in Letters Patent Nos. 702,252 and 738,578, granted to me June 10, 1902, and September 8, 1903, respectively, for automatically making photographic prints by a continuous process, the machine comprising, essentially, a rotatable drum and -a transparent or translucent apron in contact with a portion of the surface of the drum and traveling therewith. the drawings or negatives from which prints are to be taken and the sensitized sheets being fed between the apron and drum at one point exposed to the action of light as they travel with the drum and apron and discharged therefrom at another point.

The object of the present invention is to improve the machine of Patent No. 738,578 by providing mechanism for automatically varying the tension of one or the other side of the apron, so that it will be guided propcrly to engage the drum centrally and without wrinkling, thereby remedying a defect of the prior machine, in which the apron would sometimes run over the end of the drum, to provide a novel arrangement for printing by artificial light, and to provide a construction by which a continuous endless apron instead of the discontinuous strip may be used.

Of the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 represents a side elevation of the preferred embodiment of my invention. Fig. 2 represents a front elevation of the same. Fig. 3 represents a horizontal section on line 3 3 of Fig. 1. Fig. i represents a rear elevation of a form of the machine in which an endless apron is used. Fig. 5 represents a vertical cross-section of the same. Fig. 6 represents another form of the invention, showing the automatic apron-tension regulator applied to the machine of Patent No. 738,578 without Fig. 7 repchange in the general structure.

resents an elevation of part of the mechanism shown in Fig. 6 as seen from the left of said figure.

The same reference characters indicate the same parts in all the figures.

The machine of the present invention is similar in its main essentials to the machine of my prior patent, No. 738,578, in that it comprises the frame 10, rotatable drum 14, apron 15, which in one embodiment of this invention is wound up on the let-oif and takeup rolls 16 and 17 and in another embodiment, to be hereinafter more particularly described, is formed as a continuous endless strip mounted on suitable guide-rolls. The actuating mechanism is also substantially the same as that of the prior patent, except that the transmitting and speed-changing mechanism 12 is mounted on the base instead of the top of the machine and communicates motion, through the worm 2 on the shaft 1 of this mechanism, to a worm-wheel 3, which is connected to the bevel-gear 23, the latter meshing with the gear 22 on the shaft of the pulling-roll 18. The roll 16 is mounted, as in the other machine, so as to be axially movable in bearings universally jointed to pivoted arms 42, adapted to yield in the direction of pull of the apron, the pulling tendency of the apron being resisted by springs 44, adjustably connected to the lower ends of the arms L2. This yieldable and axiallyadjust able mounting for the roll 16 is provided in order to allow the roll to shift, so that the apron may come smoothly in contact with the drum without slipping thereon and without forming wrinkles in the apron which would cause blurring of the print; but I have found that frequently in practice the apron shows a tendency to creep from one end toward the other of the drum either on account of unequal stretching of the apron, which causes one edge to be tighter than the other, or for some other cause. As the roll 16 is given quite a wide latitude of axial movement, it frequently happens that the apron will shift so far that its edge will extend over beyond the end of the drum, necessitating stopping the machine until it can be readjusted in the machine, and therefore I haveby the pres.

ent invention provided mechanism for automatically adjusting the roll to guide the apron so that it will engage the drum approximately centrally and at the same time be free from wrinkles. This mechanism will now be described.

The spring 44 instead of being connected to a fixed abutment is attached to one arm of the bell-crank lever 51, pivoted at 52 to the machine-frame and having at the end of its other arm a lateral projection 53, upon which rests an arm 54, pivoted to a bracket 55, so as to be capable of rotating in a substantially horizontal plane, while the bracket itself is pivotedat 56 by a horizontal pivot to the frame. By means of these pivotal connections the arm 54 is capable of universal movement. vided with a roll 57, which when the arm is moved into the proper position laterally is adapted to be engaged by cam 58, mounted on the end of the shaft 59 of drum 14. A spring 60, mounted on an extension of the vertical pivot 61-, normally tends to swing the arm 54 inward toward the frame, so that the roll 57 is in the path of the cam 58. When the roll is in this position, the cam acting upon it forces it and the-arm 54 downward about the pivot 56. The arm acting upon the projection 53 throws the horizontal arm of the bellcrank 51 downward and the vertical arm to the left, as seen in Fig. 1, thus increasing the tension of the spring 44, and thereby increasing the resistance of that end of the roll 16 to the pull of the apron 50. A lever 62, pivoted at 63 to the arm 42, has a downwardly-extending arm 64, adapted to engage the arm 54 and move the latter away from the cam 58. The other arm of this lever 62 extends upward and is engaged by a collar 65 on the shaft 36 of the roll 16. A similar mechanism is provided upon the other side of the machine. The proportions of the parts are such that when the roll 16 is in the central position (shown in Figs. 2 and 5) the levers 62 are so held by the collars 65 as to engage the arms 54 and hold them away from the paths of the cams 58, so that the latter rotate inoperatively with the drum. When, however, the roll 16 is shifted axially by the uneven unrolling of the apron-say, for instance, toward the left in Fig. 2the pressure of the collar on the left-hand lever 62 will be relieved, and the arm 54 will then be free to be rotated by its spring 60 to bring the roll 57 into the path of the left-hand cam 58. The latter will then operate to depress the arm 54 and elongate the spring 44, thus increasing the tension of the left-hand edge of the apron 15, with the result that the creeping tendency of the apron Near its free end the arm 54 is pro-' toward the left-hand side will be resisted and the apron will be caused gradually to shift in the other direction until the collar again engages the arm 62 to throw the arm 54 out of engagement with the cam. When the apron and roll become displaced in the other direction, the action of the corresponding mechanism on the right-hand side of the machine is the same as that just described. It will be observed that only the tension increasing mechanism on that side of the machine toward which the apron has been, displaced is operated and that the corresponding mechanism on the side away from which the apron and roll have moved remains inoperative.

Stops 66 are provided for limiting the motion of the bell-cranks 51 under the influence of the springs 44, and thereby maintaining a uniform tension in the springs when the tension-increasing mechanism'is not being operated. Stops 67 engage the arms 42 and hold them in position when the drawing-rolls are not operated.

The vertical pieces 49 49, which are attached to the side frames, are used for indicators to show the operator at a glance just how far the arms 42 have been drawn away from their stops 67. It is necessary while the machine is running to have these arms 42 perfectly free from the stops 67 in order to allow a slight yielding motion backward as well as forward of the roll 16. This yielding movement is necessary to allow for any looseness of the apron due to uneven rewinding on the roll 16, and suflicient tension must be applied by means of a friction device 38, similar to that described in my prior patent, to allow for any slipping back of the roll 16, which might bring the arm 42 suddenly against its stop 67 and cause a looseness of that part of the apron which is in contact with the exposing-surface of the drum. The upper extremity of the piece 49 just touches the upper part of the arm 42 when the latter is against its stop 67. When the two pulling-rolls 18 19 are in close contact and the power applied, the operator screws up on the tension device until he sees the upper extremities of both arms 42 begin to move away from the indicator 49. In actual practice this distance may be one-fourth to three-fourths of an inch, where-it will remain with slight variations as long as the machine is in operation. Sometimes the distances which are indicated are exactly equal on both sides of the machine. At other times one of the indicators will show a greater space opened up on one side than on the other. If the distances are equal, it shows that the axes of the roll 16 and the drum are parallel, and there will then be practically no axial movement sidewise of the roll 16. Where one space-say at the left-.

hand side of the machine-is opened out wider than the right-hand, the axes of 16 and 14 are not parallel, and the let-0E roll 16 will gradu- IIO ally work to the left until the automatic mecha pivot 80 and operable by a handle 81 to en- 65 anismincreasingthetension on thatsidefinally gage the arm 42 and move it in opposition brings the roll 16 to its central position again. to the pressure of the spring 45, thus reliev- In Figs. 6 and 7 is shown an equivalentmeching the apron of the pressure of this spring.

anism to that just described as applied to the As shown in Fig. 4, a portion of the apron is machine of myprior patent without anychange guided over the drum between the latter and 70 in the general structure of the machine. In the source of light, while the return portions this construction the spring 14 is connected to of the apron are held on the other side of the a bracket 561, which is pivoted at 562 to the lighting means. In order to permit the lights frame and carries pivoted to it the arm 541, to be attended to while the apron is in place,

which supports the roll 571, arranged to be enthe casing or reflector is hung upon rails gaged by the cam 58. The roll is thrown toor guideways 720, which extend laterally of ward the path of the cam by an arm 641, prothe machine, and the casing is provided with vided on a rock-shaft 64:2, pivoted to a bracket rolls 721, which run upon these rails and per- I 5 6&3 and provided with a spring 600, normally mit the casing to be withdrawn laterally at tending to move the arm 6 11 to force the roll one side or the other of the machine, as shown 571 toward the cam. Another arm, 644, exin Fig. 5. tends toward the shaft 36 of the roll 16 and is Occasionally trouble has been experienced engaged by a collar 651 on the shaft to hold, by reason of the drawings and prints failing 20 the parts so that the roll 571 is away from the to separate from the apron at the discharging cam when the guide-roll 16 is in central posipoint, and in order to remedy this defect I 8 5 tion. A device for furnishing artificial light have provided a brush 85, located adjacent to by which to print is provided and consists of the roll 19, with its bristles in contact with a casing or reflector 70, in which are mounted the apron and their free ends extended in a 2 5 inclosed arc-lights 71. The casing is mounted direction such that they will engage the edges on guideways 72, attached to the frame of the of the sheets of drawings and prints and sepmachine in such a position that one side is in arate them from the apron, causing them to close proximity to that portion of the drum fall into the box 51, provided to receive them. with which the apron is engaged. The side I claim 0 of the casing or reflector which is near the 1. In a photographic-printing machine, the

drum is open, while the other sides are incombination of a light-transmitting, flexible, closed, so that a maximum' proportion of the laterally-movable, traveling apron, asupportlight given by the lamps is thrown upon the ing and guiding roll for said apron mounted drum. By the use of inclosed arc-lights it is to yield in the direction of pull of the apron,

3 5 possible to bring the source of light close to and mechanism automatically rendered operthe work without danger of burning the latative by lateral movement of the apron for 1C0 ter. An orifice is formed at the back of the varying the resistance of one end of the roll casing, through which access to the lamps may to yielding to the pull of the apron. had, and is closed by acover 73. The casing 2. In a photographic-printing machine, the

0 may be moved on the guideways 72 toward combination of a light-transmitting, flexible and away from the drum and is held in any traveling apron, asupporting and guiding roll I05 position by a set-screw 7 1, which clamps the for the apron, bearings at the respective ends flange 7 6 to the guideway. of said roll mounted to yield independently In the form of the machine thus far described in the direction of pull of the apron, and au- 45 the apron is non-continuous and is wound up tomatic means for varying the resistance of alternately on the rolls 16 and 17. It is desirone of said bearings to yielding to the pull of I I0 able, however, in some cases to provide an endthe apron. less apron, and in Figs. land 5 I have shown 3. In a photographic-printing machine, the a modified structure of the machine which combination of a light-transmitting, flexible,

5 adapts such an apron to be used with it. In traveling apron, asupporting and guiding roll this form the apron is supported and guided by for the apron, bearings at the respective ends I 5 the rolls 16, 19, '77, and 78, the roll 16 correof said roll mounted to move independently sponding to the let-otf roll, while the roll 19 in the direction of pull of the apron, yielding constitutes one of the pulling-rolls. Roll16 is means for holding said bearings in resistance 5 5 mounted on arms 42 in the same manner as the to the pull of the apron, and automatic means corresponding roll in the form of the machine for varying the resistance of one of said yield- I 23 already described, and mechanism is provided ing means. for automatically causing this roll to guide 4. In aphotographic-printing machine, the the apron in the manner already described, l combination of a light-transmitting, flexible,

60 such mechanism being shown in Fig. 5, all traveling apron, supporting-rolls and a guidthough it is omitted in Fig. 4 for additional ing-roll therefor, bearings for said guiding- 5 In order to avoid stretching the roll at the ends thereof mounted to yield independently in the direction of pull of the apron, yielding means for holding said bearclearness.

apron unnecessarily when the machine is not l in use, I have provided a cam 79, mounted on ings in resistance to the pull of the apron, the guiding-roll being movable in an axial direction in said bearings, and automatic means rendered operative by axial displacement of said guiding-roll for varying the resistance of one of said yielding means.

5. In a photographic-printing machine, the combination of a light-transmitting, flexible, traveling apron, a supporting and guiding roll therefor, bearings for the ends of said roll, independently-pivoted arms supporting and having universal connection with said bearings, movable to permit the roll to yield in the direction of pull of the apron, yielding members connected to each of said arms to resist the pull of the apron, said roll being axially movable in said bearings, automatic mechanism normally inoperative for increasing the tension of said yielding members, and means operated upon axial displacement of the roll in the bearings arranged to render operative the automatic mechanism for increasing the tension of one of said yielding members.

6. In aphotographic-printing machine having a work-support and a light-transmitting, flexible apron traveling in contact with a portion of the support, means for guiding the apron into proper relation with the support, comprising a supporting and guiding roll axially self-adjusting and mounted to yield in the direction of pull of the apron, yielding members connected to opposite ends of the roll to hold the roll in opposition to the pull of the apron, and means automatically put into operation upon axial displacement of the roll for varying the tension of one of the yielding members.

7. In a photographic-printing machine having a work-support and a light-transmitting, flexible apron traveling in contact with a portion of the support, means for guiding the apron into proper relation with the support, comprising asupporting and guiding roll axially self-adjusting and mounted to yield in the direction of pull of the apron, yielding members connected to opposite ends of the roll to hold the roll in opposition to the pull of the apron, and means automatically put into operation upon axial displacement of the roll for increasing the tension of that yielding member toward which the roll is displaced.

8. In a photographic-printing machine having a traveling apron arranged to hold the workwhile being printed, a flexible device mounted in contact with the apron and arranged to remove the work therefrom.

9. In aphotographic-printing machine having a traveling apron arranged to hold the work while being printed, means for removing the work from the apron comprising a brush mounted with its bristles in contact with the apron and extending toward the ad- Vancing work.

10. In a photographic-printing machine, the combination with a movable bed and a source of light adjacent thereto, of an endless lighttransmitting apron supported with a portion of its length in contact with a part of the surface of the bed, the said portion of the apron being located between the source of light and the bed and constituting with the bed a holding and feeding means for the work to bring the same under the action of the light, and the remaining portion of the apron being guided outside of the source of light.

11. Ina photographic-printing machine, the combination with a movable bed of an endless light-transmitting, flexible, apron mounted with a portion in contact with a part of the surface of the bed and traveling there with to constitute with the bed a work hold ing and feeding means, and with its remaining portion held away from the bed, and a source of light supported adjacent the bed between the said portions of the apron.

12. In a photographic-printing machine having traveling means for holding a sensitized sheet and a sheet from which a print is to be taken, means for throwing light on said sheets comprising a casing open on the side adjacent the holding means and closed on all other sides, and a source of light supported within said casing.

13. In a photographic-printing machine having means for holding a sensitized sheet and a sheet from which a printis to be taken, means for throwing light on said sheets comprising a casing open on the side adjacent the holding means and closed on all other sides, a source of light supported within said casing, and a support for said casing arranged to permit the latter to be moved away from the sheet-holding means.

14. In a photographic-printing machine, a frame, guideways thereon, means for holding and feeding the work, a casing supported on said guideways with one side adjacent said holding and feeding means and arranged to move on the guideways, and a source of light contained in said casing, the latter being open on the side adjacent the holding and feeding means and closed on all other sides.

15. In a photographic-printing machine having a work-support and a light-transmitting apron traveling in contact with a portion thereof, means for causing the apron to engage the support in proper lateral relation thereto comprising automatic mechanism for varying the tension of one side of the apron.

16. In a photographic -printing machine having a work-support and a light-transmitting apron traveling in contact with a portion thereof, means automatically set into operation by lateral displacement of the apron for causing the same to shift laterally into proper relation with the work-support.

17. In a photographic-printing machine In testimony whereof I have affixed mysignature in presence of two Witnesses.

CHARLES SPAULDINU.

Witnesses:

A. C. RATIGAN, H. L. ROBBINS. 

